Coach Frank Bennett is glad that his Lipscomb Lady Bisons only have one day to get ready to play Jacksonville.

That means his team can put Saturday afternoon’s 70-48 loss to the North Florida Ospreys at Allen Arena behind them quickly, sort of like tearing a bandage off of a cut.

“We let a lot of opportunities slip away from us,” Bennett said. “We let them frustrate us and get us out of our game. We can let that frustration carry over.

“We have to recognize areas we can improve on. We have to put the bad stuff behind us. We have to regroup quickly and get ready to face Jacksonville Monday. That is a big game for us.”

Trailing 34-22 at the half, the Lady Bisons made a couple of challenges in the second half, but could never get into contention in the final 20 minutes. They trailed by 24 on three different occasions.

“The start of the second half really killed us,” Bennett said. “We were down 12 and gave up a transition layup to a post player and a wide-open three to a good 3-point shooter. In a couple of minutes we were down by 18.”

Bennett was disappointed in both the rebounding and shot selection of the Lady Bisons.

“An area that really hurt us was shot selection,” Bennett said. “As they changed defenses a lot of times we took a quick fair or poor shot with plenty of time on the shot clock.

“We want to get a rhythm three or a layup early in the shot clock. If not we want to try to get the ball reversed and get a fair shot late in the possession if we need to do it. We didn’t cut and we didn’t recognize when they changed back and forth between zone and man defense.”

Trailing 59-35 with 7:09 left in the game, the Lady Bisons made a run, trimming the North Florida lead to 15, 62-47, with freshman forward Morgan Faulkner, sophomore forward Chelsea Burroughs, sophomore center Clair Waggener and junior forward Valerie Bronson sparking the comeback.

“That group did some good things,” Bennett said. “They were a play or two from getting us back into the game. Chelsea Burroughs really gave us some energy late in the game.”

The Lady Bisons fell to 4-20 overall, 2-12 in the Atlantic Sun. They are 1 1/2 games out of eighth place in the conference. This is the fifth straight season the Lady Bisons have lost 20 games.

“Nobody likes to lose,” Bennett said. “Everybody is a competitor.”

Freshman center Chelsea McMeans led the Lady Bisons with nine points. Sophomore center Brittany Duerk led the Lady Bisons in rebounding with six.

Guard Brittany Kirkland was the led all scorers with 22 points for North Florida. Forward Jadhken Kerr added 17.

Forward Arlande Cherizol led on the boards with a game-high eight as the Ospreys held a 40-36 advantage in rebounding.
North Florida is 7-15 overall, 4-9 in the conference.

The Lady Bisons will play Jacksonville at 7 on “Think Pink” night, a benefit for breast cancer awareness.